EP #051: The Dinner Party Test—How to Find Your Authentic LinkedIn Voice

One of the biggest mistakes CEOs make on LinkedIn? Forcing their content.

They either:
❌ Over-promote their business, sounding like a corporate press release.
❌ Share personal stories that feel out of place on a professional platform.

The result? Low engagement, fewer connections, and zero inbound leads.

Here’s the fix: The Dinner Party Test.

This simple framework ensures everything you post feels natural, builds trust, and attracts the right audience.

How to Ensure Your Content Feels Authentic, Not Forced

Think about your last great dinner party or business dinner.

You weren’t pitching your services nonstop. You weren’t oversharing personal details.

Instead, you naturally balanced:

✅ Industry insights (what you do and what you’re seeing in the market).
✅ Stories from your career (lessons, milestones, and pivotal moments).
✅ A bit of personal context (just enough to make you human).

💡 Here’s the key: If a topic feels natural in that setting, it belongs on LinkedIn.

If it wouldn’t come up, skip it.

The Topics to Talk About—And the Ones to Avoid

🚀 Topics That Work (Pass the Dinner Party Test):
✔ Industry trends & insights (“Here’s what’s changing in [your field] and what it means.”)
✔ Lessons learned (“One mistake I made early in my career—and what it taught me.”)
✔ Career milestones (“Reflecting on 10 years in [industry], here’s what I’ve learned.”)
✔ People who influenced you (“The best piece of advice I ever got from a mentor.”)
✔ Smart personal stories (“A marathon taught me more about leadership than any book.”)

🚫 Topics to Be Cautious With (Fails the Test):
❌ Overly salesy content (“Our company just hit a milestone—buy from us!”)
❌ Oversharing personal struggles (“Here’s my unfiltered life story…”)
❌ Hot-button issues (Unless they directly impact your industry, avoid politics & controversy.)
❌ Content with zero takeaways (If it doesn’t add value to your audience, skip it.)

The goal? Be relatable, not random. Be insightful, not self-indulgent.

How to Balance Personal vs. Professional Content Effectively

LinkedIn isn’t just for industry thought leadership.

But it’s not Facebook either.

Here’s the best way to find your balance:

📝 The 40-20-20-20 Rule (a simple content framework we use at Executive Presence):
🔹 40% Industry Thought Leadership (insights, trends, predictions)
🔹 20% Leadership & Career Journey (milestones, lessons, challenges)
🔹 20% Personal Stories (authentic moments that shape your leadership style)
🔹 20% Company Culture & Promotion (strategic, not spammy)

🔥 Why this works: It positions you as a trusted expert, builds relationships, and ensures your content never feels forced.

Final Thoughts: Be Real, Be Relevant, Be You

The best LinkedIn voices are conversational, insightful, and consistent.

💡 If it works at a dinner party, it’ll work on LinkedIn.
💡 If it feels awkward in person, don’t post it.

Your audience wants the real you—just the best version of you.

PS: Know a CEO who should be sharing their knowledge on LinkedIn? Send them this newsletter!

PPS: Are you a CEO who needs support sharing your insights on LinkedIn? That’s what we do for a living… let me know if we can help.

PPPS: Want to go deeper? Check out my CEO’s Guide to LinkedIn. This 83-page PDF contains everything I know about LinkedIn… and it’s 100% free.

— Justin

Justin M. Nassiri | Founder & CEO
M: 650.353.1138 | E: [email protected]
250 Fillmore St Suite 150, Denver, CO 80206
www.ExecutivePresence.io

Executive Presence specializes in helping top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders via our premium, fully-managed LinkedIn service.

Our unique process involves ex-McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants conducting monthly hour-long interviews with our clients, and turning them into impactful daily LinkedIn posts to establish their unique voice and authority. On average, our clients see a 500% bump in engagement in their first 30 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve engagement and identify impactful messaging that you can use for conferences, podcasts, and internal communications.